Well, it looks like I did it again – as in, somehow I let  💝💕 VALENTINE’s DAY  💕💝  sneak up on me … You guys have never done that, right? You’d think after all the times I’ve found myself in this situation, I’d learn what calendars are for. But, hey, at least I realized it before we hit the “publish” button on today’s post – and that’s good, right? And, though I have no sappy Valentine love story vignettes, poetic interludes, or videos of flowers in bloom to share, I do have one heartfelt comment that is relevant to our study. 

In acknowledgement of the day purported to be the romantic pinnacle of the year, let me just say this. My wife, who personifies everything that romantic love represents to me, also happens to be the best friend I ever had and one of the best sowers of “friendship seeds” I ever knew. Our relationship brings a bit of heaven into my life every day, and I pray that God will grant each of you relationships that have benefits like that. With that being said, we’ll move now to the final post in our current Friendship Seeds series.  Part 3 ~ It Has to Start Somewhere follows below . . .

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Those who hold the Darwinian approach to the origin of the human race propose that if given enough eons of time, anything is possible. But in addition to the multitude of other problems their position encounters, there’s one that no amount of time can resolve. No matter how many cycles or developmental ages they invent, no matter how many millions or billions of years they invoke to validate their theory, they’re left with this question . . . Where did that first molecule come from that contained the atomic structure necessary to interact or react with anything, in order to produce anything? 

No Supportive Evidence ~
Paradoxically, their disbelief in the existence of any form of deity, much less one that was actively involved in the origin of the universe, ultimately demands an alternative belief. The Darwinian believers are eventually left with the assumption that that vital first bit of “something” that eventually evolved into “everything” just popped into existence out of …  nothing.  Did you catch that? Out of ‘nothing’ … nothing at all.  They attempt to sidestep the fact that at every level of scientific investigation, the evidence declares that we live in a “cause-effect” universe. Nothing in our present, physical universe supports a “something out of nothing” argument. There has to be a source from which, or out of which, everything that is, including life itself, emerged. To say it simply, something, or Someone, had to come first. If we take the omnipotent, omniscient, and eternally existing God out of the equation, there is no ultimate explanation and no definable purpose for anything that exists, including and especially, people like us.

I mention all that because of its significance in relation to the point we want to make regarding the subject of friendship that we’ve been exploring for the past couple of weeks. To say it simply, friendships, like everything else in our world, have to start somewhere. There has to be a point at which two people with no prior connection find themselves confronted with one another in a way that opens a door for further interaction. Sometimes those moments are simply the result of a random combination of situations or circumstances that bring two people together. If you wonder what those kinds of incidents might look like, the Hallmark movie channel can help you with that. They apparently have an endless inventory of scenarios where strangers encounter one another in ways that prove to be laden with unexpected future possibilities. But the fact that the situations in the movies are fictional, the dialog is scripted, and that none of the emotions are real, doesn’t mean that meetings like that don’t actually happen. 

Allowing Involvement ~
All of us are probably aware of instances in which unintentional meetings in unexpected circumstances led to unanticipated relationships between unlikely people. But we’re also aware that initial contacts don’t have to be left to chance alone. While we shouldn’t be artificial or manipulative in an effort to create friendships, direct involvement in arranging contacts between people can be helpful and effective. God, who loves bringing people together, has shown us some examples of what can happen when someone decides to bring people together – and one in particular captivates my attention today.

The example I’m referring to begins with that story of how a Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus had his journey to Damascus interrupted by a personal encounter with the risen Son of God (Acts 9:1-9). What Saul experienced was much more than just an inspirational moment. It’s hard for us to imagine how deeply and profoundly that meeting affected everything about who he was and what he lived for. 

Later, he would write about how he had been zealous for Judaism (Galatians 1:13-14), but it doesn’t just mean that he was active and excited about the Torah and Jewish traditions. It meant that he was one of those Jews known as the Zealots. Zealots were fanatically committed to restoring Jewish autonomy by any means necessary and who engaged in violent opposition to anything they saw as a threat to the authority of the Torah. Saul’s official approval for the stoning of Stephen and the obsessive persecution he led against the Church were prime examples of his role as a Zealot. 

No Homecoming Parade ~
When Saul of Tarsus eventually found his way back to Jerusalem years later, he had no friends lining up to welcome him home. He had abandoned his former associates among both the Pharisees and Zealots, so they didn’t trust him and wanted nothing to do with him. Those in the church had painful memories of those in their fellowship, perhaps even friends and family, who were beaten and/or thrown into prison because of him. No one trusted him and certainly, no one wanted to be called his friend. Then something unexpected, unprovoked, and at the time almost unimaginable, happened. A guy named Barnabas heard about what happened on that road to Damascus and went to find him. Here’s Luke’s account of that intervention:

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. (Acts 9:26–27 NKJV)

The passage doesn’t mention friends or friendship anywhere, but I’m convinced that what Barnabas did encapsulates everything I endeavored to express in that process of bringing people together … a process that we’ve been calling sowing “friendship seeds.” Barnabas heard the stories, but rather than simply talk about the situation, he decided to get personally involved. He found Paul, listened to his story, and then physically took him to meet with the Church. Barnabas stood alongside the former violent Zealot and introduced the new man that Paul had become. In one significant act, a man who had no friends found himself surrounded by them. 

No Agenda in Mind ~
That happened because one man set out not to make friends, but to be one. As we said earlier, friendships don’t just happen. They must start somewhere. Someone has to take that critical first step, to make that initial introduction, to offer that first handshake, that first welcoming smile, or that first encouraging greeting. I’m quite sure that when Barnabas was looking for Paul, he was not anticipating the beginning of a relationship that would significantly contribute to changing the world. Nor did he expect that that meeting with the Church would contribute to framing its future for thousands of years. He just decided to do what a friend would do for someone who was in desperate need of one. 

Glorious Possibilities ~
God brought Barnabas to Paul, Barnabas took Paul to the Church, and the two of them took the Good News of Jesus Christ to places it had never been. Seeds are incredible things, aren’t they? They’re like tiny little packages of hope that can burst forth into miraculous multiplications of themselves and transform the hope they represent into glorious, life sustaining reality. Barnabas may not have considered himself as a friendship seed, but God did. And God brought fruit out of it that neither imagined. You and I might not consider ourselves as seeds, either, but God does and He just might have more fruit in mind that we would never imagine. 

Friendship, like everything else, has to start somewhere. The question is not whether we have friends, or how many we can claim on social media. The question is whether we’re willing to be one, especially for someone who may not have any, and who is in desperate need of one. And to encourage us to take the risk and be the one willing to take that first step, John wrote a simple but profound bit of truth about Jesus that we must not forget:

We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NKJV)

So, our concluding prayer in this series is that God will help all of us to be living “friendship” seeds and not only that, but to be the ones who reach out first. Whether they know it or not, someone out there is waiting for God to send them someone just like you – and just like me . . .

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • • To say it simply, something, or Someone, had to come first. If we take the omnipotent, omniscient, and eternally existing God out of the equation, there is no ultimate explanation and no definable purpose for anything that exists, including people like us. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • Barnabas stood alongside the former violent Zealot and introduced the new man that Paul had become. In one significant act, a man who had no friends found himself surrounded by them because one man set out not to make friends, but to be one. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • Friendships don’t just happen. They have to start somewhere. Someone has to take that critical first step, to make that initial introduction, to offer that first handshake, that first welcoming smile, or that first encouraging greeting. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • Seeds are incredible things, aren’t they? They’re like tiny little packages of hope that can burst forth into miraculous multiplications of themselves and transform the hope they represent into glorious, life- sustaining reality. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • The question is not whether we have friends, or how many we can claim on social media. The question is whether we’re willing to be one, especially for someone who may not have any, and who is in desperate need of a friend. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  

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